If you’ve visited Port Townsend you’ve probably seen the guy that sets up a bunch (20+) of whiteboards expressing his thoughts and ideas on various issues. He’s been an iconic regular at the park downtown for years.
Odds are you won’t agree with some of his notions, but I’ve not seen anything offensive or aggressively vicious. He himself is always quiet, polite, never in your face, never soliciting. I enjoy it when the grandkids come to visit and we go to the park when he’s there: it’s good for the kids to see this, I think.
PT is a very eclectic community, but a couple of weeks ago the City Council passed an ordinance limiting the size of displays on the sidewalks and public places. I thought this very unwise as the way it’s written it invites complete destruction by the courts. I don’t think they were thinking of what would happen when they lifted the rock.
The other day he was issued a citation for violating the ordinance. Here’s the link to the newspaper story:
The intent of the Council was to confine his activities to a more compact space, but you can imagine the difficulty in arguing that his free speech rights must fit into a six foot space, and not ten feet, say. Myself, I think his preferred 30 feet is a bit excessive, but I’ve not seen any problems caused by his choice. Naturally he welcomed getting the citation, as the case will get a ton of publicity and he’ll be vindicated, while Council will end up looking foolish, wasting a bunch of money defending themselves, and being even more restricted in future efforts.
It will be fun watching this one.